Friday, June 19, 2009

Okay, gang, today I am going to hit the email bag! One of you writes in:

"Hi Dr. Grumpy,

Hello! I am a staff pharmacist for an evil chain pharmacy, and had an interesting moment while working today. We received a fax for a prescription for a patient, but the date of birth didn't match our records. When we called the office to verify the prescription, the nurse said that the prescription wasn't supposed to be for that specific patient, and she didn't know who the prescription was for. I guess WE'RE supposed to figure out whose prescription this is? Anyway, I was wondering if this happens in your office.

Thanks!

PS."

Well, PS, I gotta say that we have our share of prescription confusion on this side of the trench, too. I'm not infallible, and am sure me and my staff have (unintentionally) given a pharmacist cause to apply Rogaine. On the other hand, we honestly do try our best to play nice with you guys. I mean, we need each other, right?

We do get a lot of patient voice messages like "Hi! I need my medications! Thank you.", with no useful information. Or "Dr. Grumpy wanted to know how many of the brownish-white pills I take, and it's three." And Annie's favorite "Hi, I saw Dr. Grumpy back in 2005, and he said there were pills that might help whatever my condition is, and I'm ready to take them now."

To answer your question, though: that physician's office appears to have staff from a planet where mind-reading skills are everyday norms, and expect no less from those who fill prescriptions. Many of my patients are from the same place. So, since it appears that you are as incompetent as I am at reading minds, I'd have to say we will both continue to get such odd calls.

The physician's office should have known better then to suggest you solve the problem with your mind-reading skills. Since they originated the script, somebody there should get off their butt and go ask the doctor what he REALLY meant, although he may not know, either. In fact, for all you know it was sent by a chimpanzee playing with his fax machine.

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

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